Don't be green about city plans
Has anyone else noticed how much green space there seems to be on the plan of the Preston Tithebarn project?
Pick up a copy from the library or visit www.prestontithebarn.com and you will see how clever the planners have been to give the illusion of green space to the plan.
Note that the green spaces are mostly depicted on roof tops and not at ground level.
Also note that the artist has used green for shading the plan, which gives the appearance of green space where there will not be any - for instance on the roof of the John Lewis store and the new bus station.
Green space on rooftops sounds nice but we all know that won't happen. The plan needs to be changed to include plenty of green space at floor level for us all to enjoy.
It should be a green and pleasant land, not a concrete jungle.

Susan Johnson, via email

Councillors: do as we say, not as we do
I write with regard to the news that South Ribble councillors are set to award themselves a 126% increase in expense allowances.
The justification, according to Councillor Tomlinson, is that he and his colleagues have not had an increase since 1999.
Well, Councillor Tomlinson, there are a lot of people working in the private sector who have had very few, if any, pay increases since 1999, and there are a lot of people who have since lost their jobs and can't get another one.
These same councillors tell their front-line workers they must make do with a 2.4% pay settlement because things are tight.
There's nothing like setting a good example.

Iain Houghton, Northern Avenue, Much Hoole

No need for costs to deter students
Your article "Students are priced out of universities," (Letters, July 29) asserts that prospective students are being put off entering university because of tuition fees.
UCAS figures did show that the number of students accepted to full-time undergraduate courses from Lancashire suffered an anticipated downturn following the introduction of variable tuition fees in 2006 in line with the national trend. However, this was reversed the following year with an increase of 3.5%.
From 2006 undergraduates starting their degree courses have not had to pay tuition fees before beginning their studies and are only required to start repaying their fee loan once they have left university and are earning over £15,000 per year. This means that someone on the average graduate starting salary of £18,000 repays £5.19 per week.
Furthermore, from this autumn more students than ever before - two-thirds of eligible new undergraduates - will be entitled to a non-repayable maintenance grant of up to £2,835 a year.
These changes will enable an extra 100,000 students annually to benefit from some level of grant support while at university.
Together with the loans available for tuition fees and living costs and the bursaries that universities offer, this package of support means nobody should be put off higher education for financial reasons.

Bill Rammell, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education

When roadworks are taxing in many ways
Some months ago, the authorities had work done on a bridge which passes over the A583 Blackpool Road at Lea.
I couldn't fathom the reasons for imposing a 30mph speed limit on the road for a mile on each side of the bridge.
I realised it would be a godsend to the camera devotees, but didn't appreciate just how much tax they would be grabbing. Figures released, not by Lancashire, but by the National Highways Agency, reveal that during the four-months imposition of this 30mph stretch, 6,355 drivers were caught speeding, raking in almost £400,000.
No doubt almost all of that went to the Treasury. They could have used it for the bridge work, I suppose, but the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety seems to think that relieving motorists of their already-taxed money is a worthwhile pursuit in itself.

Peter Brown, Penwortham, via email

Let us have say on Labour leadership
I personally don't care whether Gordon Brown is replaced as Prime Minister in whatever plot is being cooked up by his enemies in the party.
But I would care very much, if there was not a General Election called in the aftermath, in order to let the people have a say.
I know that, constitutionally, there was no obligation to consult the public when Mr Brown replaced Mr Blair. There are any number of precedents for that, including when Mr Major replaced Mrs Thatcher.
But to do it twice in such a short space of time without seeking a mandate sooner rather than later would be cocking a snook at democracy.

G Smith, Bamber Bridge, via email

Wall kept mad dog from schoolgirls
With reference to the "mad dog" incident at Deepdale Primary School in the mid-1940s, as recalled by Mr Harold Benson, I was in the girls' playground, separated from the boys by a low wall - and that's why the dog caught a boy, not a girl.
My recollection is slightly different to his. The boys all scrambled on to a higher wall at the other side of the playground next to the secondary school but John Sargeant couldn't get up in time.
The dog got hold of his rear and wouldn't let go.
I seem to remember that a local off-duty policeman heard the screaming, ran in and forced the dog's jaws apart.
I'm sure John carries the scars to this day, as well as the ones from a motorbike crash later on in his life. He lived on St Georges Road, and I lived in Plover Street.

Pat Pinder (nee Topping), Preston, via email

Sign up for weekly waste collections
All local authorities across the United Kingdom should collect household waste once a week.
Let's make the Government aware of this by signing the petition that has been started on the Prime Minister's website at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/collectionwaste

F E Sharpe, via email

Pay scheme should work both ways
Your editorial on the fact that senior police officers in Lancashire receive bonuses on top of their salaries, seemed satisfied to go along with the idea because the constabulary is at the top of the performance league tables.
I bet it still came as a suprise to most of your readers, however.
It seems to be accepted these days that if senior people do a good job, their wages, paid by the taxpayer, should be topped up.
Logically, then, the same principle should dictate that if performance ever dips, their money should be docked.

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